FAIRFIELD -- A truck driver hauling a pre-built house never saw warning signs in front of him or flashing police lights behind him seconds before he plowed into the North Benson Road rail overpass early Thursday morning.

Two state troopers and an escort car reportedly led the trucker down the path to destruction, after the driver got off Interstate 95 at the wrong exit. The troopers then scrambling unsuccessfully to stop the 4 a.m. collision, which reduced the home to a pile of splintered boards and shut down a major local thoroughfare.

The house, bound for Reef Road in the southeast part of town, was 13 feet, 6 inches tall. The trucker did not respond to multiple yellow signs that warn drivers about the 10-foot-5-inch bridge clearance, Fairfield police Lt. James Perez said.

"It ended up not being a good day for the owners of the house or the builder," he said. "A lot of work was put into it, and all that sweat equity was destroyed in seconds."

The driver, from Maine-based RJF-Keiser Industries LLC, was supposed to follow a route that left I-95 southbound at exit 23 for Kings Highway, where there are no low bridges. But the group instead left the interstate at exit 22 and turned left toward the low-slung overpass.

The state trooper driving in front of the truck passed under the rail bridge and realized the truck and its load would be too high. He radioed back to a second trooper who tried to catch up to the truck with his lights and sirens blaring, but it was too late.

The overpass is less than a quarter-mile from the exit ramp. The trucker said he was checking his GPS unit as he rumbled toward the bridge.

Neither the State Police nor RJF-Keiser could be reached Thursday for an explanation of how the crash happened, or an estimate of the damaged house's value. It was not immediately clear who the buyers of the house were.

Perez said the truck driver likely won't face any criminal charges for the crash. That's because yellow warning signs like the ones near the bridge are "advisory signs," and are not backed by state traffic laws or local ordinances.

Fairfield has many roads with low overpasses and Perez said collisions have happened several times in the past. Most involve regular people driving rented moving vans without realizing that their truck is much taller than the typical car or pickup.

"I've seen the contents of people's homes scattered all over the road," Perez said.

But he said that commercial and rental truck drivers have a responsibility to know the sizes of their trucks with air in the tires before they hit the road.

Thursday's crash might have been prevented, Perez said, with more planning, and perhaps a local police escort once the truck entered Fairfield.

"It's an unfortunate incident, but people just need to take time to understand how high their truck is," Perez said.